Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Chairman RS Sharma, meanwhile, said he would now turn his focus to key concerns at the core of the net neutrality debate - the ability of service providers to slow down or speed up access to websites.

“With Digital India, we are seeking to empower the people of India by the use of technology to create a knowledge economy,” Prasad told ET. Non-discriminatory access is integral to this and “the prime minister and the government are fully supportive of free interaction on social media”.

India is home to 1 billion mobile connections with 400 million having access to Internet in some form or the other, he said. “When we talk of digital inclusion in India for e-education, e-health, any kind of segmentation is absolutely antithetical to it,” Prasad said. The minister said there was an avenue for appeal in the event of a challenge.

“Differential pricing is a tariff issue, which is determined by Trai as per the law of India,” Prasad said. “There’s a whole process available within the law itself for anyone to challenge and take action.” The minister also said he didn’t believe the decision would adversely affect Facebook. “Apart from Free Basics, Facebook has many other operations in India,” he said.

“Differential pricing should not become the pre-condition of any of these platforms. India is a vast market with vast potential.” A day after Trai barred discriminatory pricing of data services, including zero-rated services such as Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel Zero, Sharma told ET the authority had tackled features of net neutrality from the tariff perspective.

“But I think there are some aspects which are not tariff related, but which are also relevant in this context. One is throttling and another is fast lane,” Sharma said.

His comments will encourage backers of net neutrality, the concept that free and equal access to the Internet should be guaranteed to all. They had welcomed Monday’s regulation but had pointed out that Trai must monitor speed of access, which allows service providers to act as gatekeepers. Throttling and fast lanes have been banned by the US Federal Communications Commission, although the latter hasn’t barred zero-rated products outright.

The Trai chairman also allayed fears that some service providers may exploit exceptions allowed in the regulation issued on Monday, such as tariffs for data services over closed electronic communications networks. Some fear a service provider can form an alternate network for its own users, or an intranet, and offer its own content at cheaper rates.

“It is very clear that something which is on closed electronic communication network is not covered,” he said. “Nevertheless, there is a clause in the regulation that if the determination is done by the authority that this particular construct is done with a view to defeat the purpose of the regulation, then Trai will be fully justified in intervening.”

He added that Trai is yet to take a final view on the previous consultation paper floated in March-April 2015 on the need to regulate apps such as WhatsApp and Viber, which provide voice communication services, another key aspect of the net neutrality debate. Net neutrality backers have strongly opposed the need to regulate such communication apps.

“We have taken some inputs from that consultation paper also, but that paper as of now is in an inconclusive situation, and we are still working on it,” he said. “I will not be able to give a timeline at this point of time. However, we are working on it and will take a final position as soon as possible.” Sharma said the consultation on differential pricing, issued on December 9, had been triggered by the submission of Free Basics proposal, essentially a zero-rating plan.

“We deliberated on this issue, whether this satisfies the licensing conditions and also the stipulations in the Trai Act relating to tariffs being transparent and nondiscriminatory among others. So therefore, we issued the consultation paper,” said Sharma. “And in about 60 days, we concluded this by forming the final view of the Trai in the form of a regulation. So it rests there as of now,” he said. He further said that Trai had taken on board the opinions of all stakeholders and analysed the issues from economic, public policy and technology standpoint.

“Consumers are a very important stakeholder. More so, many times, consumers do not have a voice or their voice or interests are not articulated. Certainly, consumers’ interests have to be central to whatever position we take,” he said. Going forward, Trai will retain focus on improving not just the quality of voice services, but also that of data services. “This is an important issue from the consumer perspective and we will continue to work towards improving the quality of service.”